Can confirm that Houzz has increased their commission, but they increased it to 25% in July 2023. Source: have merchant relationship on Houzz. I think the houzz is on fire.

This article doesn’t discuss how Houzz themselves sells on the marketplace and they compete with other merchants. One company forwarded an email to me in which a Houzz employee said directly that Houzz’s search and display algorithm favors their own listings. I do not believe Houzz offers a level playing field compared to their own listings. I’ve also heard a rumor that Houzz offers placement benefits to some large merchants.

Houzz has pluses and minuses for merchants. There are too many to list here. I’d encourage sellers interested in Houzz to do their homework.

Frankly, I wonder about the long term viability of Houzz’s business model, at least as a marketplace vs as just another e-commerce site where they and a few partners are effectively the only sellers. There was chatter about three years ago of them going public. But they missed the boom time. Why? Also, it appears they have reduced their ad spend on Google. My speculation, and it is just that, is that they couldn’t go public because they didn’t have the financials to support that move and they’ve been trying to get their financials right. The move from a 15% commission to 18% was one action in that direction. If it’s true they have reduced their ad spend on Google and elsewhere then that might be another.